Filamentary media such as optical fibers have become an essential part to nowadays infrastructures and communication technologies given their superior signal transmission capabilities. Taking optical fibers for example, an optical fiber cable consists of a plurality of optical fibers surrounded by protective sheath. Each individual optical fiber consists of a small diameter core of materials such as glass or plastic cladded by a surrounding protection having a lower index of refraction than the core. Even though optical fibers are designed for near total reflection of light propagating therethrough, when an optical fiber is bent past a critical radius, light rays transmitted no longer are fully reflected within the core of the optical fiber and therefore no longer traverse the optical fiber, resulting in signal loss or degradation. Therefore, extra care is required when it comes to handling and routing optical fiber cables to avoid sharp bends or kinking in the fibers in order to achieve reliable signal transmission.
Panel illumination for interiors of vehicles such as airplanes or automobiles is an important application utilizing optical fiber delivered lighting. For example, an aircraft cabin lighting system can be designed to provide decorative patterns of light on aircraft cabin ceilings, with optical fibers providing optical communication from a light source to the one or more illuminating points. Presently, when optical fibers that are horizontally guided on a surface of a panel access light pipes vertically inserted in the panel, reinforcement at the exterior of the optical fiber cable at such accessing locations is used so that the cable does not bend past a radius too sharp, e.g., along a curve having a radius less than the critical radius of the fibers. However, such reinforcement techniques are not only cumbersome to implement, but also add weights to vehicles such as an aircraft where weight reduction is of great significance.
Thus, there is a need for an adapter for routing, supporting and protecting a filamentary medium, without sharp bending or kinking, in compliance with the critical bend radius of the filamentary medium.